Do you manage a healthy walk or are you thinking of organizing one?
From Public Health we present the Quick Guide to Planning a Healthy Walk. This guide, adapted from the Guide for the Design of a Healthy Routes Plan of the Ministry of Health (1), is a support resource for those teams that want to start a healthy walks project. Those who already have them can find ideas to establish improvements, enhance equity, promote participation and dynamization or carry out an evaluation.
Currently, physical activity is one of the main factors involved in improving health. Scientific evidence indicates that, practiced regularly, it has multiple benefits for all people:
.jpg)
“Healthy Walks” are a proposal based on promoting regular, moderate and accessible physical activity, which facilitates compliance with physical activity recommendations and also favors the relationship between people by promoting other aspects of emotional health.
The walks generally last 30 minutes to an hour, and can be promoted by a local entity, an association or a health center. It is a relatively easy activity to implement that is usually well accepted and adhered to by participants, and has been shown to have multiple health benefits, such as reducing blood pressure, body fat or reducing the risk of depression.
The San Pablo de Zaragoza Health Center reflected in the following short film (one of the winners of the 2015 Cinema and Health Contest) the benefits that people can experience when starting a “Healthy Walk”.
We encourage you to consult the guide! You will surely find good ideas!!
(1) MSCBS-FEMIP. Towards healthy routes. Guide for designing a healthy route plan. Version 1. Madrid 2018. Available in: https://www.sanidad.gob.es/areas/promocionPrevencion/entornosSaludables/local/estrategia/herramientas/rutasSaludables.htm
(2) In this study you can find more evidence about the effectiveness of walks: Hanson S, Jones A Is there evidence that walking groups have health benefits? A systematic review and meta-analysis British Journal of Sports Medicine 2015;49:710-715. Available in: https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/49/11/710.full?g=w_bjsm_open_tab
.png)
